November 19, 2013

Serendipity Brings Soldier's Diary Back to his Sweetheart after 70 Years

This is truly a beautiful story. 90 year old Laura Mae (Davis) Burlingame was visiting the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans when she spotted her photo in a display case.

The photo was of Laura Mae as a young woman and was part of a display featuring the uniform and diary of Marine Corporal Thomas Jones. Corporal Jones had been killed by a sniper's bullet in 1944 at the age of 22. Laura Mae's photo, signed by her with "Love, Laurie" was taped into the back cover of his diary.

Inside Jones had written "my life history of my days in the U.S. Marine Corps ... And most of
all my love for Laura Mae for whom my heart is completely filled. So if
you all get a chance please return it to her. I (am) writing this as my
last life request."

Jones and Laura Mae were sweethearts in High School and she gave him the diary before he left to go overseas. Laura Mae now has copies of the entire diary dedicated to her by her sweetheart of so many years ago.

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Death Finds a Way: A Janie Riley Mystery by Lorine McGinnis SchulzeJanie Riley is an avid genealogist with a habit of stumbling on to dead bodies. She and her husband head to Salt Lake City Utah to research Janie's elusive 4th great-grandmother. But her search into the past leads her to a dark secret. Can she solve the mysteries of the past and the present before disaster strikes?

I'm an incurable collector of
antiques, an avid genealogist and a messy but creative cook! I blog, i write history and genealogy books. My main genealogy website is Olive Tree Genealogy http://olivetreegenealogy.com/

Lorine is the author of many published genealogical and historical
articles and books available at
http://LorineSchulze.com